Thank you, I had hoped that with Donald, who I completely support, that ALL of the VA would start caring about us.
I’m sure that’s a well shared feeling and sentiment.
I talked to so many people yesterday and each had a different solution or department that I should talk to. Rather than give me those numbers, they just kept transferring me. At one point I was given 5 EXTENSIONS at one number but didn’t receive any answers at those either. Every time someone said, “I’ll transfer you to the right place”, I just groaned!
Simple, simple really - my husband signed up last year for VA healthcare (a Korean War vet) to get the ball rolling for possible future care but was not directed to do anything else after applying. He has 3 specialists plus a Primary Care physician and we weren’t seeking medical care...
For now, I’m interested in help caring for him at home; (Homemaker and Home Health Aide Care) and met that brick wall. “He’s not eligible”...”He’s not enrolled”....”He needs a Primary Care doctor to certify”...”He needs to go to Atlanta”...and on and on it went. I finally discovered that their terms “eligibility”, “enrolled”, “primary care doctor” are totally different from the definitions the REST of us use. I said, “He has a primary care doctor” BUT they MEANT a VA Primary Care doctor. I asked if he could do all he needed to do at the nearest VA Clinic and one gal shouted, “I keep telling you, he has to go to Atlanta.”
They don’t realize that they are talking to people who are not familiar with their language as they ALL asked:
Last name and last four! HUH? By the 2nd time it was said, I knew they meant - last four digits of the SS number!
The last gal who did help - at least pointed me in the right direction tho’ I still can’t get through to that number - said it meant that after applying he never completed the process of getting an appointment at a VA clinic..which meant enrollment and eligibility would be completed then. I was amazed that there were no directions anywhere to do so. He received an acceptance letter from the VA along with the Benefits Handbook which has his name printed in it with his priority # and I’m told, “he’s not eligible?”
She was dumbfounded when I said I was told we would have to get my husband to Atlanta and said it’s right on one of the VA websites - ANY COMMUNITY BASED OUTPATIENT CLINICS...we went over the website together before we got off the phone.
So I guess I try to get the info on getting him “eligible” or “enrolled” and go from there.
Sorry to babble so much but in addition to the problems at their hospitals etc., they also truly need to get down to the roots of their call centers and have a wholesale or even individual ORIENTATION for the people answering the phones. I assume they are not volunteers off the street but actually on the VA payroll!
Thanks for putting up with a nearly rabid old woman!